Arts Council for Long Beach Awards Sunny Nash for Inspiring Students

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017) 
Sunny Nash and Bobbie Smith Elementary Students
Viewing Nash's Historical Artifacts

Sunny Nash’s innovative approach to personal empowerment--How a Child Builds Legacy--is a cultural heritage preservation program that guides young students to think of their potential contributions to family, neighborhood, society and humanity. 

In addition to this Arts Council for Long Beach (ACLB) grant, Sunny Nash is a three-time winner of ACLB Professional Artist Fellowships (2003, 2009 and 2014).

"Cultural heritage preservation is another way of saying: Saving the story of you, which becomes your legacy. What I want to show you today are a few things to do to build your legacy," Sunny Nash told the students at Bobbie Smith Elementary School. 

“My legacy began with my earliest realizations that I exist," Nash said. When I was quite young, about your ages, I developed the desire to leave my mark for kids in the future like you to understand how my family lived and what we did in our lives. I wanted to save my family's legacy  to show how individual choices can make a difference to a family; and how collective family choices to educate themselves and live by certain principles can make a difference to society.”

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017) 
Sunny Nash
Talking to Students about Legacy

How a Child Builds Legacy Sponsors 

Arts Council for Long Beach

City of Long Beach

Cultural Alliance Long Beach

Building Future Leaders

Educator Alta Cooke

Community Activist Carolyn Smith Watts

Robin Perry & Associates

Sunny Nash created How a Child Builds Legacy--an exhibition of family artifacts, published journalism, interactive student discussions, guest speakers and a Time Capsule--as a model for students understand the control they possess over the direction of their own lives and to assume responsibility for what their legacy will become. 

(Photo by Sunny Nash © 2017)
Educational Achievements of Littie Nash 
Sunny Nash's Mother

The exhibition highlights Nash's family accomplishments earned before and during the Civil Rights Movement. Sharing civil rights history behind those accomplishments helps students realize: 

If those people can do all that, maybe I can do something, too.

(Photo by Sunny Nash © 2017)
Bobbie Smith Elementary Students
Viewing Sunny Nash's Published Journalism

"I was impressed with the students' knowledge of Civil Rights and American History," Nash said. 

"When knowledge of the past and the opportunity to imagine themselves beyond their immediate circumstances, students can experience positive changes in the way they see their future," Nash said. "Knowledge makes it easier for them to put their lives into a larger historical context and to place themselves into the American story."

(Photo by Sunny Nash © 2017)
Military Achievements of James Nash
Sunny Nash's Father

Nash's program is not just "old school." She told students how to use technology in the legacy building process, such as cellphone video and images, which she uses to produce and collect artifacts and exhibit pieces. 

"If I take pictures, video and audio with a cellphone," Nash told the children. "I download my digital files and save them in a retrievable format as soon as possible. Suppose something happens to the phone? The backup feature of the service does not preserve the highest quality image, which means your original is lost if you do not take action to save it from the device." 

(Photo by Sunny Nash © 2017)
Bobbie Smith Elementary Students
Viewing Sunny Nash's Published Journalism

For creating and preserving a lasting archive, Nash does not recommend public sharing on social media and free cloud storage. She said those options save images in fairly low resolution, making reproduction and printing low quality. 

"And what happens to your pictures and movies if the service experiences a glitch or service goes out of business?" She asked students. "To produce the highest quality for later use, save your archive to a device or drive, such as a flash drive or an external hard drive you can connect to a device. Digitizing my photo files at high quality allowed me to print my images and share them with you today."

"However, if public, cloud or social media archiving and storage are all you have," Nash said. "That's all you have. And some means of preserving the data is better than no means of preserving the data."

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017) 

After seeing Sunny Nash’s Legacy, 

students contribute their own Legacy aspirations 

to Time Capsule

“I want children to lift their vision,” said Nash, who conducted after school classical music and literature programs for Long Beach Unified School District 2005-08. “I like sharing memories from my childhood, which I wrote as a syndicated newspaper column, published as a book, now part of my personal legacy.”

While celebrating the anniversary of the naming of Bobbie Smith Elementary School in Long Beach, California, students start building legacy with Nash's Time Capsule, for which they wrote and placed inside the capsule how they want to be remembered by future generations. 

The Time Capsule is a gift from Bobby Smith to the students, who will decide when the Time Capsule is opened.

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017)

Bobbie Smith Presents Time Capsule 

To Principal, Monica Alas

Bobbie Smith, for whom Smith Elementary is named, said, “I am very pleased to have Sunny Nash present her work and interact with students at Smith Elementary. I have known and worked with Sunny on many projects through the years and appreciate her dedication to contribute to the culture of Long Beach.”

Monica Alas, Smith Elementary Principal, said, “Mrs. Bobbie Smith has been a role model to students since the school was re-named in December of 2015. Her partnership with Sunny Nash benefits our students with the exhibition highlighting authentic published journal entries and unique art collection.”

Bobbie Smith makes frequent appearances 

at Bobbie Smith Elementary School in Long Beach, California

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017) 
Principal Monica Alas Thanks Guest Speaker and
former colleague of Bobbie Smith for her support
and participation

Alta Cooke, first African American High School Principal in Long Beach (Jordan), delivered a six-point speech on legacy building to Smith Elementary School students. "I want students to fulfill a positive image of self," Cooke said. "That image ultimately shines from within, and programs like Sunny's will help students develop their inner image."

Using her exhibit, Nash encourages students to preserve digital data, daily journals, artwork, report cards, awards, memorabilia, photographs and keepsakes to create a record of their lives. Emphasizing academic commitment and continued scholarship, Nash shares with students how her interest in preservation while in elementary school evolved into a journalism career, became her tool for contributing to national and global conversations and won awards for Cultural Heritage Preservation Programs.

“The concept Sunny Nash is presenting to the students is a good fit for what our organization promotes,” said Keith Lilly of Building Future Leaders. “Students need to learn ways they can become involved in preserving their heritage. It’s a lesson about life.”

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017) 
Sunny Nash pointing out artifacts from her own Legacy
To help students understand how to build their own

“Cultural Alliance Long Beach (CALB) supports universal concepts of art, as more than traditional forms of creative expression,” said Victor Ladd, CALB Vice President. “Art embraces traditional forms, as well as the preservation of expressions of cultural heritage, which Sunny Nash demonstrates in her presentation to Long Beach students.”

Nash displayed a collection of family artifacts belonging to her parents and grandparents, and a selection of newspaper columns she wrote about life with her part-Comanche grandmother before and during the Civil Rights Movement. 

(Photo by Victor Ladd © 2017)
Sunny Nash and Students
View Her Published Journalism

The newspaper columns were published originally in the State Lines section of Texas Magazine in The Houston Chronicle (Sunday Edition). The column and other articles Nash authored were syndicated nationally in Hearst and Knight-Ridder papers. 

Selections from Nash's newspaper columns were collected into her book, Bigmama Didn’t Shop At Woolworth’s, recognized by the Association of American University Presses as a book for understanding U.S. race relations, and recommended by Miami-Dade Public Library System for Native American Collections. 

Nash previewed a portion of the How a Child Builds Legacy exhibition at the Khmer Parent Association Mother Daughter Conference, where her efforts were honored with a California State Senate Citation by Senator Ricardo Lara and a Jeannine Pearce Award.

“How a Child Builds Legacy provides tools we all need to assert control over our environment--our lives, our legacy--to determine how we want to live and to be remembered,” Nash said. “Don’t all human beings deserve a chance to use tools that help them find meaning in life?” 

~30~

Sunny Nash
Author-Journalist

    

Bigmama Didn’t Shop 

At Woolworth’s 

Sunny Nash

Hard Cover

Bigmama Didn't Shop 

at Woolworth's

Amazon Kindle

Bigmama Didn't Shop 

at Woolworth's

Sunny Nash, former nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, is the author of a nonfiction book about life before and during the Civil Rights Movement with her part-Comanche grandmother, Bigmama Didn’t Shop At Woolworth’s, selected by the American Association of University Presses as a Book for Understanding U.S. Race Relations, and recommended by the Miami-Dade (Florida) Public Library System for Native American Collections.

Sunny Nash is an award winning writer and three-time winner of Arts Council for Long Beach Professional Artist Fellowship Awards: 2003, 2009 and 2014-15. Her most recent Arts Council for Long Beach award is a 2016-17 grant for cultural heritage preservation programs, How a Child Build Legacy, designed to encourage young students to prepare archives of their accomplishments and plan for their future achievements.

Sunny Nash earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Mass Communication, Texas A&M University; Postgraduate Media Studies Certificate, Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communications, Arizona State University; Postgraduate Diploma, Instructional Technology, University of California, San Diego; Constitution Studies, James Madison’s Montpelier Center for the Constitution; and Postgraduate Digital Literacy Certificate, Simmons College Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Boston. Sunny Nash’s international studies include Intellectual Property Law, World Intellectual Property Organization Academy, Geneva, Switzerland; Diplomacy, Culture and Communication, United Nations; Research Methodology, Digital Preservation, Online Archival Information Systems, University of London; and Archival Data Governance, National Archives of Australia, Melbourne. 

© 2017 Sunny Nash. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

 www.sunnynash.blogspot.com 

~Thank You~

Sunny Nash Honored with a Pearce Award

Silhouette of Sunny Nash
On-Location at Khmer Conference
Photo by Keith Jerome Lilly, Founder
Developing Future Leaders

Sunny Nash was honored by Jeannine Pearce, Long Beach, California, City Council Member, 2nd District, at the 2nd Annual Khmer Parent Association Mother and Daughter Conference, where Nash delivered the keynote address and exhibited artifacts from her mother's archive.

Nash began preserving artifacts of her cultural heritage after studying archaeology interpretation and preservation techniques at the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, University of London and U.S. Department of the Interior. Nash's specialized training includes material artifact preservation such as photographs, historical papers, books and objects, as well as digital archival systems for images, text documents, sound recordings and video.

"I realized, even as a child, that I wanted to leave my mark," Nash said. "And in order to leave a mark, I knew I had to make a mark. I observed my grandparents, parents and others in my life to see how to create something of value to leave behind. And to make a record of it, I knew I had to save things like my people did. My mother saved her academic papers, among many other articles that I have the privilege of preserving for others to appreciate and to study far into the future."

Littie Nash (Sunny Nash's Mother)
University of Texas
State Licensing - Food Safety

Artifacts Sunny Nash is preserving from her mother's archive emphasize two main points. Part of the exhibit displays her mother's academic achievements and professional training certificates, which she acquired at a time when such training for women was scarce and employment in those professional areas was quite limited for women until after the Civil Rights Movement. 

"I watched my mother meet the postman who delivered her books and lessons for her correspondence courses," Nash said. "Those methods of study resembled today's online study. In the 1950s and 1960s, though, there was no Internet. It was all handled by mail. The reason my mother chose correspondence courses was because many schools and professional training programs did not allow people of color or women. And some professional training correspondence programs were more concerned about validating tuition fees than racial or gender identity records."

African American, Native American and Irish Artifacts
of Littie Nash (Sunny Nash's Mother)

The second point of Nash's exhibit underlines the fact that few people are of a single culture. 

"Race and ethnicity make up only a portion of a person's cultural heritage," Nash said. 
"The unfortunate truth is that so many people ignore part of who they are or they are not aware of all they are or they fail to adequately acknowledge the culture in which they live. If we could possibly start to appreciate all that we are, then maybe we can increase our appreciation of who others are."

The annual Khmer Parent Association Mother and Daughter Conference, which presents focus groups, mother-daughter discussion panels, question and answer sessions, exhibits and other activities, is a resource for all women and girls to share experiences. The Khmer Parent Association was co-founded by Chan Hopson, who has been executive director of the organization for more than ten years and organizes the annual event. Hopson and many others who participated in planning and executing the Khmer event all understand the importance of women recognizing and sharing their concerns, stories and accomplishments. 

"And because of my participation in the Khmer conference," Nash said, "my mother and I were both celebrated with a Pearce Award."

Sunny Nash Award

Long Beach, California, City Council Member, 2nd District, Jeannine Pearce's civic theme is: "Building a Long Beach that works for everyone starts by bringing together all stakeholders to develop creative solutions. Our priorities include promoting a thriving local economy with good jobs, establishing safer neighborhoods, and increasing smart, local investment. This is your seat at the table, join us in the conversation!"

Sunny Nash said the Khmer Parent Association Mother and Daughter Conference was particularly significant to her because it gave her the chance to reflect on what her mother meant to her and what her mother did for her; and to share with others how her mother's lessons were less about telling and more about showing. 

"Because of my mother's influence, I have assumed the responsibility of preserving the records she and my father, my grandparents and my ancestors left," Nash said. "Preserving what they felt important is the least I can do for those who struggled before me and managed to keep records of what they did. When we are all gone, those records will stand to illustrate to humanity that we lived and will represent the story of me and my people--who we were, what we did and how we did it." 

-30-

Sunny Nash
Author-Journalist

    

Bigmama Didn’t Shop 

At Woolworth’s 

Sunny Nash

Hard Cover

Bigmama Didn't Shop 

at Woolworth's

Amazon Kindle

Bigmama Didn't Shop 

at Woolworth's

Sunny Nash, former nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, is the author of a nonfiction book about life before and during the Civil Rights Movement with her part-Comanche grandmother, Bigmama Didn’t Shop At Woolworth’s, selected by the American Association of University Presses as a Book for Understanding U.S. Race Relations, and recommended by the Miami-Dade (Florida) Public Library System for Native American Collections.

Sunny Nash is an award winning writer and three-time winner of Arts Council for Long Beach Professional Artist Fellowship Awards: 2003, 2009 and 2014-15. Her most recent Arts Council for Long Beach award is a 2016-17 grant for cultural heritage preservation programs, How a Child Build Legacy, designed to encourage young students to prepare archives of their accomplishments and plan for their future achievements.

Sunny Nash earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Mass Communication, Texas A&M University; Postgraduate Media Studies Certificate, Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communications, Arizona State University; Postgraduate Diploma, Instructional Technology, University of California, San Diego; Constitution Studies, James Madison’s Montpelier Center for the Constitution; and Postgraduate Digital Literacy Certificate, Simmons College Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Boston. Sunny Nash’s international studies include Intellectual Property Law, World Intellectual Property Organization Academy, Geneva, Switzerland; Diplomacy, Culture and Communication, United Nations; Research Methodology, Digital Preservation, Online Archival Information Systems, University of London; and Archival Data Governance, National Archives of Australia, Melbourne. 

© 2017 Sunny Nash. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

 www.sunnynash.blogspot.com 

~Thank You~